A NYC mental health investment & learning collaborative
The Wellness Classroom was founded in 2022 to catalyze a systemically relevant and sustainable blueprint for implementing promising mental health and well-being interventions in New York City K-12 schools.
The Problem
The mental health crisis is one of the most urgent public health issues in New York City following the COVID-19 pandemic. School-based interventions can have a significant impact, giving New York City’s school district, the largest in the US, an excellent opportunity to deliver increasingly urgent mental health support to students. However, existing mental health interventions are more reactive rather than preventive. Schools often do not have the time or resources to test and evaluate the most effective preventive mental health programming to bring over their existing work
The Solution
There is an opportunity for philanthropy to step in to relieve the growing burden, identify, support, and evaluate new and innovative approaches, and create a model and repertoire of effective programs that schools can adopt. To reach this goal, The Wellness Classroom will pilot and test dozens of programs in schools and community-based organizations to learn what works, in what settings, and whether the programs are scalable, sustainable, and ultimately fundable with government and private/public insurance funding. These programs will support the entire school ecosystem — including students, their caregivers, and educators.
Building a blueprint for the system…
Our Grantees
Black Girls Smile's SHE’s Mentally Prepared school offerings bring Black young girls and women (12-18) into a comprehensive ecosystem of care and equips caregivers with the necessary skills to support their young people. With this grant, Black Girls Smile will expand SHE's Mentally Prepared to two NYC public schools (160 students and caregivers in middle or high schools) with an emphasis on their parent/caregiver offerings, which include suicide prevention training, workshops, and wellness activations with interactive activities for caregivers and students. The parent/caregiver offerings will be tailored to the school's specific needs.
Black Girls Smile
Healing Schools Project helps schools integrate anti-racist mental health and well-being practices to improve teacher retention, especially among teachers of color. Its model centers teachers of color to create a better intervention for educators of all backgrounds. This grant allows Healing Schools Project to build personnel capacity to reach 6 schools (200+ educators) in Queens and the Bronx. Schools will engage in the following programming: 1) a school-wide community care workshop to anchor all community members in a shared language and vision for school culture; 2) coaching and advising for school leaders on creating environments that support educator well-being; and 3) healing circles to support educator wellbeing, build connections, and gain skills.
Healing Schools Project
JED will develop standardized mental health and suicide prevention training for school-based medical professionals in a new partnership with the Office of School Health, an inter-agency office of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the NYC DOE. The training, delivered remotely through JED's learning management system, will support 2,000+ nurses, doctors, and physician assistants working across 1,800 NYC schools. Participants will learn how to identify mental health challenges facing youth/adolescents, assess when a student is in crisis, use an assessment tool to evaluate suicide risk, know when to call 911 or refer students for health assessment, and leverage school-based resources, regulations, and procedures.
The Jed Foundation
Child Mind will expand its professional trainings in NYC, conducting whole-school awareness-raising workshops across 20 schools and training approximately 250 of its educators in their preventative Mental Health Skill-Building curriculum and 10 school-based mental-health professionals in its group trauma intervention. Training participants will be able to reach 6,250 students via Mental Health Skill-Building and 50 students via trauma treatment. This grant also supports robust data collection, including longitudinal assessments using clinically validated tools for student outcomes, a content assessment, and a formalized version of its needs and readiness assessment for training participants. This data would provide critical insights into what happens in school communities after the conclusion of CMI’s training program – allowing then to move their understanding of the work from outcomes to impact.
Child Mind Institute
The Arthur Project professionalizes traditional mentoring using clinically focused mentors (social work students) to work intensively with middle schoolers. They aim to destigmatize accessing mental health services through its therapeutic mentoring program that is supportive and fun. They also offer Whole Family Support through Caregiver Advocacy: their Education Advocate supports families in navigating education and mental health needs, providing access to supports and resources, facilitating events, and acting as a liaison and advocate with their child’s school when necessary. This grant supports the continued work of the Education Advocates in two schools in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn to build caregiver connections in each site and conduct program evaluations. The Arthur Project has a 100% retention rate among all their middle schoolers.
The Arthur Project
NYC Outward Bound Schools support NYC young people in developing the knowledge and skills to lead with confidence and curiosity, persist in the face of challenges, and live fulfilling lives. They believe in the interdependence of social-emotional and academic development and bring this to life via a suite of direct student programming that harnesses adventure and the healing power of the outdoors. This grant improves upon the effectiveness of its student advisory structure, Crew, as a Tier One mental health support, by integrating mental health literacy into their approach, which would touch over 20,000 students in the 52 schools Outward Bound is located in across NYC. This grant also supports the development of Tier Two interventions that build upon Crew for two specific populations of students; recent immigrants and LGBTQ+ youth.
Outward Bound Schools
Dream Charter School is a leader in developing the whole child model that is responsive to the unique academic and social needs of every child, DREAM is creating a future where all children are equipped to fulfill their vision of success. With this grant, Dream will expand its existing model for comprehensive adolescent mental health services to enhance efficacy, responsiveness, and scalability. This program model intends to increase their network’s collective capacity for care, quickly identify and provide appropriate interventions, and track impact over time. Their thoughtful approach includes deepening screening practices, implementing PD that supports staff in an expanded intervention model and a system for students to access virtual counseling, and budding an internal data infrastructure to support this programmatic evolution. This grant will impact 900+ students in grades 6-12.
Dream Charter School
Robin and Urban Assembly have teamed up to combine what they do best. The Robin program improves social, emotional, and mental well-being through their grade-by-grade curriculum that shares a common framework. Urban Assembly’s Resilient Scholars Program (RSP) provides schools with cost-effective whole-school Social Emotional Learning (SEL) implementation support and prioritizes evidence-based approaches to SEL assessment and skill development. The use of Robin’s curriculum in conjunction with UA RSP’s ecosystem assessment and implementation support will provide schools with a comprehensive set of SEL services to maximize student growth, ensure fidelity of implementation, and promote school sustainability. This partnership will reach 3000+ students, grades 6-12, in the Bronx.
Urban Assembly & Robin
Weird Enough Production combines original diverse stories with groundbreaking mental health curricula focused on helping students of color become heroes both inside and outside of the classroom. They take an equity-based approach to social emotional learning that considers all aspects of a student’s identity, then combine that equity-based approach with graphic novels and culturally responsive curricula! Their award-winning series “The UnCommons: has captured the hearts of over 1 million readers. This grant enables Weird Enough to pilot their new program Pop Courage in New York City’s District 79, focusing on middle school students in alternative schools. PopCourage offers high-impact lesson plans that foster greater self-awareness, social responsibility, and agency. Students can follow curated lesson playlists, or mix and match lessons to create unique playlists for a tailored experience.
Weird Enough Productions
Meet the Team
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Sarah Holloway
Co-Founder
Sarah Holloway has 30 years of experience in the US education sector and is currently on the faculty of the Columbia’s School of International & Public Affairs and Senior Fellow for Social Impact at Columbia Entrepreneurship. Sarah has been working at the intersection of K-12 education and equity and is the co-founder of Mouse.org and CSforALL.
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Eric Weingartner
Co-Founder
Eric Weingartner spent two terms working in City Hall on public policy and knows the ins and outs of getting things done with the City and the DOE. He has also spent ten years running a portfolio at Robin Hood, five years running one of the City’s largest youth-serving organizations, The Door, and now runs The Overbrook Foundation, a private family philanthropy.
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Anke Ehlert
Program Director
Anke Ehlert recently earned her MBA at Columbia Business School, focusing on social impact and enterprise. She spent the six years prior at the intersection of K-12 education and poverty. Anke’s work includes teaching elementary school through Teach For America in Detroit, MI and managing the largest qualitative research study on poverty in The United States out of Stanford’s Center on Poverty and Inequality.
Advisory Board
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John MacPhee
CEO of The Jed Foundation
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Angela Diaz
Chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine and Director, Mt Sinai Adolescent Health Center & Dean for Global Health, Social Justice, and Human Rights at Mt Sinai School of Medicine
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Michael Preston
Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center @ Sesame Workshop
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Prerna Arora
Associate Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University
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David Adams
CEO of Urban Assembly